Deadbeat Illinois: IOUs to juvenile home hit other agencies, too

GALESBURG — The state owes nearly $5 million to a juvenile detention center in Galesburg that serves 16 west-central Illinois counties.

Inside: By the numbers

Joe Ward

Click on the graphic to go to
the series' Facebook page.

GALESBURG — The state owes nearly $5 million to a juvenile detention center in Galesburg that serves 16 west-central Illinois counties.

As of Jan. 18, the state owed $4,862,000 to the Mary Davis Home, which is operated by Knox County. More than $2 million is owed from 2002 to 2005, and with the size of the state’s unpaid bills, it is unlikely that they’ll ever receive that money.

“I can’t worry about that money,” Superintendent Rod Cleair said. “If we haven’t seen it now, why would we? They owe that to everyone else, too.”

The state’s budget woes and backlog of $9 billion in bill payments has affected nearly every municipal entity in Knox County.

To make up for the annual shortfalls, Mary Davis has cut staff and some services, and the county has had to shuffle money from other entities to cover the detention center. Eight employees have been cut; new hires for open positions are few.

The home used to bus its underaged residents to doctor’s appointments and court appearances in other counties all hours of the day. Now the transportation service is restricted to morning and early-afternoon hours. The responsibility of transporting kids during off-hours falls to the county sheriffs who have teens in the center.

“Other court services are getting cut like us,” Cleair said. “It has hurt us as far as residents we receive. If we don’t take these kids, they’ll be out in the community.”

Knox County has tried to help the problem by transferring other money to the home: In 2012, Treasurer Robin Davis said, that meant $60,000 from the public safety fund and $268,390 from the contingency fund. Still, Mary Davis runs a deficit.

“The county has been great,” Cleair said. “They understand that we are a value to them and the community.”

The availability of other funds to cover the facility have become scarce as more local entities struggle to balance their budgets.

“The detention home here struggles because of it,” Cleair said. “But so do the nursing homes, the schools. We’re all in this together.”

By the numbers
$6,413,533,456.63 General fund payments backlogged as of Jan. 27.
206,191 Total vouchers delayed
Note: Includes vouchers and transfers to other state funds
Source: Illinois comptroller